There are many ways to clean a pool, and pool owners are continually looking for easier ways to do so. Pools can be cleaned by hand, such as by brushing the pool surface with a brush fit on the end of a long pole. This causes debris and material collected on the pool surface to be lifted off the surface; when the pool pump and filter assembly is operated in conjunction with this practice, the debris and water are together drawn through the pool pump into a filter which filters and collects much of the debris, thereby removing it from the pool and rendering the pool cleaner. Brushing can be laborious and time-consuming, however.
Automatic pool vacuums were developed to reduce the work of pool owners. Pool vacuums operate in a number of different ways, but most creep along the pool surface and suck, or disturb and then suck, debris and material collected on the pool surface up a hose into the operating pump and filter assembly. Vacuums can be difficult to operate, however. They must be calibrated to provide sufficient suction, they must be maintained, they are vulnerable to jamming from large debris, and they usually provide a random cleaning pattern that may be inadequate.
In-floor cleaning heads were developed as an automated, low-oversight way to keep a pool surface clean. In-floor cleaning heads are outlets that are permanently installed in the swimming pool structure. The heads recede into the pool structure when not in use, and then pop up when operating. Although there are a great number of kinds of pop-up heads, most operate with the basic functionality of directing a stream of water across a portion of the pool surface to clean that portion of the pool surface. Some heads rotate to direct that stream across different portions of the pool surface. Typically, the heads are installed in a number of locations across a pool surface, and often clusters of heads are grouped together in “lines,” with each line including heads that receive water independently of the heads in other lines. This independent operation of lines requires a way to provide a flow of water to each line independently, and so swimming pool distribution valves were developed.
Swimming pool distribution valves generally have an inlet, a plurality of outlets, and some internal mechanism for directing the flow of water from the inlet to each of the outlets independently. However, many swimming pool distribution valves are susceptible to wear, which requires laborious maintenance or difficult replacement. Additionally, many distribution valves are susceptible to water blow-by, in which leaks develop between inlet and outlet, allowing water to flow into the other lines and thereby reducing the effectiveness of the valve. Back pressure can also develop in some valves, causing the valve to jam or fail. Still further, some prior art valves suffered from sharing water while one outlet is fully open—allowing one outlet to be completely open while another outlet is partially open, leading to ineffective cleaning. An improved water distribution valve is needed.